Davis Cup 2018: Bhupathi defends Balaji selection ahead of Jeevan, Purav

Balaji was included in the side for the September 14-16 away tie as a replacement for Divij Sharan, who pulled out due to a tear in his serving shoulder.

Published : Sep 06, 2018 20:14 IST , New Delhi

Balaji, 28, is now set to play his second tie having made a winning debut against Uzbekistan, last year. (File Photo)
Balaji, 28, is now set to play his second tie having made a winning debut against Uzbekistan, last year. (File Photo)
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Balaji, 28, is now set to play his second tie having made a winning debut against Uzbekistan, last year. (File Photo)

India’s Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi on Thursday defended the selection of N. Sriram Balaji ahead of higher-ranked Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Purav Raja for the tie against Serbia.

Balaji was included in the side for the September 14-16 away tie as a replacement for Divij Sharan, who pulled out due to a tear in his serving shoulder. Saketh Myneni replaced Yuki Bhambri after Sumit Nagal refused to play the tie citing the Challenger Tour.

Balaji, 28, is now set to play his second tie having made a winning debut against Uzbekistan, last year. AITA usually picks players on rankings but shunned the policy when it was forced to pick a replacement after both Sharan and Yuki Bhambri pulled out due to injuries.

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“I wanted a balanced team. We have a lefty in Prajnesh already and I wanted someone who can serve big as well,” Bhupathi said, when asked about the logic behind the selection. Balaji is ranked 110th, while the left-handed Nedunchezhiyan and Raja are inside top-100, at 88 and 89, respectively.

“There is no doubles versus singles in Davis Cup. You always factor the opposition, surface, conditions and combinations. If you just go down the ranking as a compliance exercise every time, I don’t think we can achieve the right combination of players to try and win the tie,” Bhupathi added.

AITA selection committee chairman S.P. Misra said that the decision was based purely on the recommendation of the non-playing captain.

ALSO READ: Davis Cup: Bhambri, Sharan pull out of Serbia tie

“Rohan Bopanna and Balaji had played an excellent match against Uzbekistan (in Bengaluru, in April 2017). Their combination was good, so on captain’s advise we picked Balaji. Also, there was no time to ask for the availability of other players because only yesterday morning we got to know about Divij and Yuki’s unavailability,” Misra said.

A source privy to the selection said that Jeevan was not suited for clay courts. “On clay, you need someone who can hit the ball very hard. With someone like Jeevan, it won’t work on clay. All these factors were considered while making a decision, so Balaji was a better choice,” the source said.

However, Nedunchezhiyan’s results this year show that out of his seven finals on the ATP Challenger Tour, two were on the clay courts of Savannah and Tallahassee in the US. So, he has won three titles this season and ended runner-up in four, out of which two were on clay.

Asked about Purav Raja, another source said that the AITA was not happy with the way he played in the World Group Playoff tie against Canada in September 2017. “He did not play according to the expectations in the against Canada, so he was not considered,” said the source.”

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